On the road to Jackson Hole, WY

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Dave

Bison on South Entrance Road - Yellowstone NP

We decided to cancel our 2nd day at the Yellowstone Canyon Campground and head down through Grand Teton National Park to Jackson Hole. We were help up for en-route when a herd of bison decided to take a 20 minute stroll down the middle of the road. A few minutes before we arrived in Jackson, I checked my cell phone and noticed that the hotel reservation I made yesterday was canceled but we managed to find another rather quickly…still seems like the full force of tourist season hasn’t arrived yet. We are just about to head into town to take a quick look around and then out to an Austrian restaurant this evening. We are winding down our trip and it has been quite an adventure. As mentioned before, I will post more when we get back–including the infamous bear spray incident.

Posted in Grand Teton NP, Northwest, US, Wyoming, Yellowstone NP | Leave a comment

Grizzly Bears in Yellowstone

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Dave

Grizzly Bears in Yellowstone NP

We started a bit late this morning and decided to make a beeline to see Old Faithful but were sidetracked about 30 minutes into our journey by a mother Grizzly bear and her two cubs near Indian Creek. They were about 150 yards in the distance but over the course of 30 minutes made it all the way to the road we were on. We snapped a few pics and here they are.

Posted in Northwest, US, Wyoming, Yellowstone NP | Leave a comment

1200 miles in 4 days…and that’s just a start

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Dave

Lamar Valley - Yellowstone

Yes-a lot of driving on this trip. So much, in fact, that I got a severe migraine and very sick a couple of days back. But we recharged and hit the road yesterday for a marathon road trip beginning at our hotel in Bozeman, down to the north entrance of Yellowstone NP, through the Lamar Valley, onto the Beartooth Highway through Wyoming and Montana driving as far as the Beartooth Pass at close to 11,000 feet. We then retraced our route back to Gardiner, WY–which is just outside the north gate of Yellowstone NP–and found a hotel. Had a great rib eye steak at Rosie’s on Park street–much thanks to Emily our lovely waitress and former Paducah, KY resident.

Would love to write more but the Internet service in this town is really bad….like I wish I had a modem bad. I will write a synopsis of the trip, including more photos, when I get back.

Posted in Montana, Northwest, US, Wyoming, Yellowstone NP | Leave a comment

National Park Tour Continues…

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Dave

View from our Glacier NP campsite - Lake McDonald

A slight change in plans from what I documented in my last post.  We decided to be a little more ambitious and decided on Glacier National Park and Yellowstone instead of Badlands.  We are three days into the trip and this is the first opportunity I got to post.  I am not going to into much detail because it is early morning and we have to hit the road again soon. It has been a mostly good trip so far with a few bad–even scary moments– sprinkled in.  The good has been the weather, the hikes and, of course, the scenery.  The bad has been the weather–two major hail storms while driving in which the steering wheel of the rental car still shows signs of indentations from the death grip I had on it while trying to navigate through the mess.  Also, on the bad list is that some of the trails on the east side of the park were only partially open.  Then on my very bad list is the Bear Spray Incident…I will describe this in another post…when I gather enough courage to document in the a manner it deserves.

I am hoping I have more time tonight to share more stories and photos from the trip.  We plan to tour Bozeman, MT this morning, take a ride on the Beartooth Highway the rest of the day and then find a hotel near Yellowstone NP this evening.  We have two nights of camping in Yellowstone planned before we head back.

Posted in Glacier NP, Montana, Northwest, US | Leave a comment

Upper Yosemite Falls trail and the Mariposa Grove

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Dave

Mariposa Grove

This will be my last post on Yosemite…at least until I return again.  Packed up all of my gear and headed to the Ahwahnee for my $50 breakfast (see a couple posts below).  Visited the park office and spoke with a ranger who recommended the Upper Yosemite Falls trail as a good option for a 3-4 hour hike.  I knew that I wasn’t going to try to make it all the way to the top of the falls because I also wanted to try to make it to the Mariposa Grove to see the redwood trees.

The UYF trail is a slight incline that quickly becomes a long series of ass-kicking switchbacks up the mountainside.  I can’t remember how many switchbacks I counted before the trail levels off but it has to be 50 plus.   Once you reach the top, there is a 20 or 30 minute relatively level walk to you get a good view of the falls.  I stopped once I got to the viewpoint and took photos for 30 minutes or so and then headed directly back down.

I hopped in the car and took CA route 41S for the 90 minute drive down to Mariposa Grove.  45 minutes of the drive was spent behind a blue VW Beetle that  drove an average of 30 miles an hour.  I felt like I was in a funeral procession as there was a 15 car long line of vehicles behind this car.  Some people are just totally oblivious; my biggest test of patience the entire trip.  It was so bad that the drive in the car behind the VW must have dozed off and almost drove off the side of the mountain–their car quickly swerved to the right and kicked up huge puff of dirt.  They would have fallen several thousand feet if they wouldn’t have caught themselves.

Oh well, that was the excitement for the day but both trips were great and I have many photos to share below.

Posted in California, US, West, Yosemite | 1 Comment